How would you like to be remembered?
Some of us want to be remembered with just a simple tombstone, while others want to be remembered for who they were and what they did in life. King Solomon wanted to be remembered as the person who built the temple. The reading we heard from 1 Kings 8:22-30, 41-43 earlier in today’s service is part of the prayer of dedication of the temple.
There had been talk of building a temple to the glory of God for quite some time. The Israelites believed that the Lord God dwelled in a tent. When the Israelites were wandering through the desert and living in tents themselves, it only made sense for the people to regard God as also dwelling in a tent. By living in a tent, God was able to travel everywhere that the people did. Wherever the people wandered God could travel with them. The people no longer lived in tents out in the desert. Instead they lived in houses in villages and towns. It just did not seem right for God to dwell in a tent when the people enjoyed all the comforts of living in houses. It was only appropriate for God to have a permanent dwelling place as well. It was Solomon's goal to build a temple.
In his prayer of dedication, Solomon referred to the promise God made to his father David, a promise David revealed to Solomon on his deathbed. That promise was expressed in conditional terms in Psalm 132, where God promised that if David’s descendants kept his covenant and the testimony that he would teach them, they would sit on David’s throne forever. Unfortunately, by the time the temple was dedicated, Solomon had already broken God’s requirements. Solomon married one of Pharaoh’s daughters and made sacrifices and burned incense in places where pagans worshiped and people were unfaithful to God.
Solomon was not perfect, and neither was his father David. Both of them represent all of us because we are not perfect. Like Solomon and David, we have a sin-filled nature. We do things that do not please God, but God can still use us to do his work as long as we allow God to live in us through the Holy Spirit.
God’s name represents all that he is, but he can’t be confined by the temple because he is everywhere. He transcends places and things. For example, one of the reasons why God didn’t allow David to build the temple was because David’s desire was to confine God to a physical building. Solomon built the temple knowing that God is present everywhere. Also, Jesus was limited by his physical body in that he could only be in one place at a time, but the Holy Spirit can be everywhere and with everyone at the same time. God Iives in the hearts of all believers. He wants the whole world to know, love, worship and serve him. We are to make intimacy with God our #1 priority.
Solomon’s famous wisdom was reflected in his prayers at the dedication of the temple. He wants God’s name (and hence God’s presence) to be present in the temple so he would hear the prayers of the people and respond by acting with justice. The building of Solomon’s temple reminded the people that obedience-wholehearted devotion to God-is required to experience the blessing of God’s presence.
Solomon knew that the splendour of the temple was small compared to the size of God. Solomon had a vision that included all the peoples of the earth. He realized that God’s house wasn’t only for the covenant people, but for the seekers of the whole world as well. Nothing can contain God. He is big enough to handle all of our problems, regardless of their size.
The temple was built for both the Jews and the Gentiles. Foreigners were welcome in the Court of the Gentiles. The temple became a house of prayer for all nations. Foreigners, or people who are different from us, reveal who we are as a community. They measure the spiritual maturity of a person and community. They carry potential evangelism to Israel and the world. They are a warning in a too-settled community that sometimes forgets about a partner on a spiritual journey.
David had the desire to build the temple, but the work was actually done by Solomon. Was David frustrated when God blocked his plans? Yes he was, but he did not let that stop him. David prayed, sacrificed, toiled and kept the vision of the temple before the people. He trusted in God to bring something good out of his frustration. Without David’s determination, the temple would never have been built.
In many churches today people are discussing the style and content of their worship. The leadership of our own parish had a similar discussion earlier this year when the decision was made to use the different liturgies that are in use throughout the worldwide Anglican Communion. We must remember that the intended audience for our worship is God and not any particular group. God is the host, and we are there to worship him. He makes us at home in his presence through his grace, mercy and peace. God welcomes us and our neighbours regardless of whether or not they are church members.
Solomon’s petition in this reading teaches us some valuable lessons about prayer. First, God answers our prayers in his own time and in his own way. Second, when we think our prayers have not been heard or our prayers have been rejected, God answers them in far better ways than we can imagine. God is honoured and blessed when we acknowledge that God keeps his promises and answers our prayers. Prayer places our faith in a God who loves us and cares about us.
Communal prayer necessarily and desirably communicates something to both God and to those who pray. It awakens our spirits to new needs and hopes, but we must not allow our prayers to become community announcements that we merely allow God to overhear. God wants to communicate with us. God reaches out to all of us in different ways, and people feel God’s presence in their lives in different ways. Similarly, the gospel spreads when we volunteer to go, and even when we go involuntarily.
The cloud that descended on the temple was a sign of God’s presence. It was the same cloud that accompanied the Israelites when they left Egypt. It was the same cloud that descended on Mount Sinai when God made his covenant and gave Moses and the Israelites the Ten Commandments. That covenant was still in force at the dedication of the temple, but Solomon also spoke of the covenant God made with his father David to establish a line of David forever-a line that included Jesus. Even after the temple was destroyed, it lived on in the hearts of the people, just like God’s presence lived on with them and lives on with us today. God has remained faithful to his people through the centuries. Nothing can control God, and nothing can contain God.
Solomon’s prayer teaches us many things that have practical value. First, it reminds us that the prayer we offer has much to do with the future that is before us. Prayer can insist that our future must include God. Second, it gives us advice, especially when we don’t know how to pray or when prayer seems to be a dead language or an embarrassment in a world that relies on technique. Finally, it encourages us to dedicate ourselves to the work God has given us to do. We must commit deeply to our own dedication to God so that people may come to hear God’s great name because of the way we live our lives.
